Bullet-resistant backpack promises to protect children

Humphrey Cheung, 17th August 2007

Danvers (MA) – For the upcoming school year, parents may be packing a bit more than box lunches into their children’s’ backpacks. To deal with pistol-packing bullies, Danvers, Massachusetts-based MJ Safety Solutions is selling a special backpack with a bullet resistant panel. While school violence is an age-old problem, MJ Safety is touting its backpack through very modern means… with a YouTube video .

The company’s video plasters in news footage of school shootings with clips of children wearing its “My Child’s Pack ”. The video even shows a girl protecting herself by using the backpack as a frontal shield. Of course the protection comes at a price and the panel adds about 20 ounces of extra weight to the backpack.

MJ Safety says the ballistic panel is certified as a NIJ Level II plate which means it can protect against medium and low caliber rounds like 9mm and .22. According to the video, kids should also be protected against edged weapons because viewers are repeatedly shown clips of the panel taking hits from machetes and knives.